Indians Prospect Insider

Clippers win the International League title (Photo: MiLB)Clippers repeat as champions
Columbus knocked off Lehigh Valley in Game 4 on Friday night by a score of 4-1 to win the best-of-five series three games to one. Right-handed pitcher Chen-Chang Lee struck out Lehigh Valley's Brandon Moss for the final out in the ninth and then pandemonium ensued as the Clippers rushed to the field for an...

Joe Martinez (Photo: IPI)Clippers on verge of a repeat
Another big performance from Joe Martinez has the Clippers one win away from reclaiming the Governors' Cup.
Martinez and two relievers shut down the IronPigs with a combined four-hitter as Columbus took a 2-1 lead in the best-of-5 International League Finals with a 6-2 win over Lehigh Valley on Thursday in Allentown, Pa.
A...

Nick Weglarz (Photo: Lianna Holub)"Minor Happenings" is a weekly column which recaps the important developments and news in the Indians farm system. While most of the information in this report is from my own research and through interviews I have conducted with organizational personnel, some information in this report is collected and summarized from the various news outlets that cover each team.

Mitch Talbot (Photo: MiLB.com)Clippers take Game 2, Series tied 1-1
A four-run eighth inning and a tremendous pitching performance by Mitch Talbot lifted the Clippers to a 4-1 victory, evening the 2011 Governors' Cup Final at 1-1.
After four innings of scoreless baseball, Lehigh Valley put the first run of the contest on the scoreboard on a Tagg Bozied solo homer to lead off the top...

LeVon Washington (Photo: IPI)The “Instructs Spotlight” will be a feature piece once or twice a week featuring one player from the Cleveland Indians farm system that is participating in the Fall Instructional League out in Goodyear, Arizona from September 14th to October 14th.
The 2011 Fall Instructional League gets underway today out in Goodyear, Arizona. For some of the 50-some players...

Preston Guilmet (Photo: IPI)Kinston wins Mills Cup Series opener
Kinston won game one of the Carolina League Mills Cup Championship Series 3-1 on Tuesday Night at Harry Grove Stadium. Jesus Aguilar hit a go-ahead home run and Preston Guilmet slammed the door with a four out save solidifying the K-Tribe win. Kinston now leads the best-of-five series one game to none.
Both teams left...

Goodyear Fields (Photo: IPI)The 2011 Fall Instructional League gets underway tomorrow September 14th out in Goodyear, Arizona. Over a span of a month around 50 players will participate in weight training and conditioning drills, on-field instruction, and play in 13 games until it wraps up on Friday October 14th.
This is really the first time a lot of the 2011 Draft class and some key Latin...

Sailing with the Clippers is a weekly Monday morning installment that explores the week that was for Triple-A Columbus.
This week featured the last regular season game of the year, and a journey into another postseason. A loss in that last regular season game put the Clippers at 88-56. Impressive in any scenario, it is all the more so when you consider that a number of the team's best players...

Paul Cousineau and I are back on the cyberwaves tonight for some Cleveland Indians baseball talk with another edition of "Smoke Signals" from 11:00 - 11:30 p.m. EST.
After having their playoff hopes dashed last week when the Tigers came into town and swept them, the focus now is finishing out these last 20 games or so of the season and to continue to create momentum going into next season....

Carlos Carrasco will likely not return until
the start of the 2013 season. (Photo: AP)
Some news, notes and thoughts from my Indians notebook…
Carrasco to have major surgery
The Indians got some bad news this week as after lots of tests and consultation with doctors it was decided that right-handed pitcher Carlos Carrasco would undergo ligament transplant surgery –...

Mike Rayl (Photo: IPI)The Kinston Indians are 2011 Southern Division Champions. The feat was secured by beating Myrtle Beach 9-2 in game four of the Southern Division Championship Series Saturday night at Kinston’s historic Grainger Stadium.
After losing game one, the K-Tribe clinched by winning three straight contests, especially impressive given a 5-0 deficit in the second inning in game...

As fans of the Scrappers often know, the season can be a tale of two teams. Often times, the team you see at the beginning of the season is quite different than that which finishes it.
While the Scrappers got an influx of talent at the end of the season, their roster remained virtually intact for the majority of the season. As is the case with most short season teams, franchises aren't too...

Tyler Holt
(photo: Kinston
Indians)Around the Farm takes a quick look at some of yesterday's performances by Indians prospects throughout the system. The positions listed below are where
the player was playing in yesterday's game.
Tyler Holt: CF, Kinston: 3-5, 1 R, 1 2B, 1 3B, 4 RBI, 2 K:
Have I mention the havoc that Holt can create? Holt had his third consecutive...

Joe Martinez (Photo: IPI)Columbus sweeps, Move on to Championship Series
The defending Governors' Cup champions will have a chance to defend their crown after defeating the Durham Bulls, 5-2 at Huntington Park on Friday night.
With the victory and a three-game sweep over Durham, the Clippers clinch a spot in the Governors' Cup finals and will play the winner of the Pawtucket - Lehigh...

Adam Abraham (Photo: IPI)"Minor Happenings" is a weekly column which recaps the important developments and news in the Indians farm system. While most of the information in this report is from my own research and through interviews I have conducted with organizational personnel, some information in this report is collected and summarized from the various news outlets that cover each team.
A...

Quick Review:
The 2011 season for the Lake County Captains began well, and it ended with a sweep. The middle portion was less than to be desired. The Captains finished the season with a franchise record 86 losses (the season record was 53-86), and it was mostly due to the youth of the squad. The average age of the Captains squad was 21 years old, and the roster seemingly got younger as the...

Jesus Aguilar (Photo: IPI)K-Tribe comes back to tie series
Kinston evened the Southern Division Championship Series with an 8-6 victory on Thursday Night in Myrtle Beach. In the 11th Bo Greenwell led off the frame with a single and was sacrificed to second base by Adam Abraham. Jesus Aguilar then delivered a go-ahead single making the score 7-6. Kinston added an insurance run in the inning...

I was down in Woodbridge, VA last weekend to catch High-A Kinston's final series of the regular season. While down there I was able to see them clinch a postseason berth on Sunday where they had a mild celebration on the field and a champagne/beer shower after the game in the dugout.
On Monday I posted some pictures from the celebration, but I also shot some video and decided to put it to...

Available IBI Books

The 2014 Cleveland Indians Baseball Insider book featuring the Indians' Top 100 Prospects and more is now available. Also, previous editions from 2008-2012 are also available at a discounted rate. Just click on the book image for more information. Thanks again for all the support!